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Linux
Ubuntu Linux on Dell D630: the DVD
Getting the DVD drive working in Ubuntu Feisty on my Dell D630 laptop was one of the tasks that eluded me until a few minutes ago when I went searching again and found the solution. At first I tried this and used the ide-generic driver. Linux recognised the drive, but as the page above says, it doesn’t give you any DMA modes. I tried the Bourne Supremacy, just to see if anything would happen, but Totem just sat there and the system became sluggish while the CD made some whirring noises. That’s a sure sign that DMA isn’t working! That […]
Web
Blogline's new interface is beta
Bloglines have announced a beta of their new interface, just after I jumped ship to Google Reader. The new interface looks snazzier than the old one and they’ve adopted some of the conventions of Google Reader. Clicking on a subscription doesn’t mark all items as read for example. The same accelerator keys still work, and “s” still jumps to the next feed, but they don’t have the star and sharing features of Reader. If you’re reading this through a feed reader jump to the front page of ocaoimh.ie and you’ll see an “I like these” list on the sidebar. Those […]
Donncha , When-in-Ireland
Waterloo Renewal Fundraiser
Originally I thought we might head to Youghal tomorrow but someone called to the door a few days ago selling raffle tickets to support renewal of the local area. It’s organised by “Waterloo Renewal Group” who have great plans for the local river area and walk. There will be a BBQ at the Waterloo Inn so it looks like we won’t be going far from home on Sunday!
Linux
How labels saved my life
Well, they made it easier. Saved might be a little strong. When using a Unix based system you use a file called /etc/fstab to designate all the hard drives and external storage like flash cards and where they will mount or live on your filesystem. It’s not quite like the Windows world where everything has a drive letter, although you can use SUBST to get a similar effect on that operating system. /etc/fstab is easy to maintain when all your drives stay in one place, but since I’m using 3 external drives and a card reader, sometimes the device name […]
Food
Could I resist? Could I what!
Jacob’s Elite Chocolate Tea Cakes, described on the packet as “mallow cake covered in thick milk chocolate”, but I’d say they’re the ultimate tease of what heaven is like, they’re that nice. Could I resist biting into the lovely chocolate covered biscuit and the creamy, melt in the mouth mallow? Not a chance. Could you? Definitely one of my favourite biscuits. Thanks Sheila!
WordPress
Comment Referrers 0.1
Here’s a small plugin that does a small but useful task. It reports where the people who comment on your blog come from. It then adds a line to the end of your comment notification or moderation emails with that information. Download: comment-referrers.txt Install by renaming the file to .php and placing in your plugins folder and activating it on your WordPress plugins page. Update! Here’s the plugin page for this plugin.
Web
My life through Google
A large part of my online income depends on Google Adsense. I filter my email through gmail and since this morning I’m feeding a backup gmail account with a copy of every single email I get. Thanks Matt for that idea. I use Google’s search engine to find solutions to my problems. Like Tom and Matt I now read my feeds through Google Reader. Not being able to hit ‘S’ to go forward a feed still sucks but my workflow has changed to accommodate it. It’s a bit scary how much I use we use Google. PS. I’m testing a […]
apache , PHP , WordPress
Notes when upgrading to PHP5
I upgraded one of my servers to PHP5 this morning. Two things to watch out for: The location of your php.ini may have changed. It’s probably now in /etc/php5/apache2/. You need to copy over any changes from your old one. Update your libraries too such as the mysql client and the gd library. Don’t forget you can delete the old ones. apt-get install php5-mysql php5-gd will do the job of installing, the old packages have a php4 prefix. WP-Cache doesn’t like PHP5 much. If you see a blank page after upgrading to PHP5, then hit reload and it loads, then […]
Apple
The blinking folder and question mark is bad, right?
Just over a year after buying my Macbook and it has quite possibly died. While using it, it stalled, keyboard wouldn’t respond, and I had to shut it down. When I started it up again I heard 3 distinct clicks which is never a good thing, and after a few minutes of staring at a grey screen a flashing folder appeared with a question mark in the middle. It has happened to others and the prognosis isn’t good. A reinstall of Mac OS X is required, but those clicks I heard disturb me. I get the feeling I’ll be finding […]